A TRIAL OF GROSS TYPE CLASSIFICATION IN RESPONSE TO HISTOPATHOLOGICAL EFFECTS AFTER CHEMOTHERAPY IN CARCINOMA OF THE ESOPHAGUS

We examined gross type classification after chemotherapy in response to histopathological effects in patients who received neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Out of 33 cases subjected to neoadjuvant chemotherapy with cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil from September 1991 to August 1993, 31 cases with depressed lesions were enrolled in the present study. The cross sections of residual tumors from resected preparations were morphologically classified into the following 4 types: I. Those which maintain the original form almost completely. II. Those of which rand walls decrease in height, but with depressed surface. III. Those of which rand walls are lost completely, without depressed surface. IV. Those which are divided into small cancer foci. The above types were well correlated with histopathological responses. Considering that type III lesions are subdivided into (A) elevated lesions, (B) flat lesions, and (C) submucosal tumor lesions, and that the mucous membrane raised with the rand wall covers the tumor surface as the rand wall height decreases, gross types of our classification were well correlated with histopathological effects.